February / March 2019 IVF / ICSI

[Thund4rcat]

Hi all, starting a new thread for those of us who are starting IVF treatment in February.

This will be my second round of ICSI, I start buserelin injections on 17th February. We have MFI (low sperm count) and after our first cycle ended in a chemical pregnancy, I demanded a laparoscopy because I have always had painful periods. The lap discovered I have mild endometriosis and mild adenomyosis but the surgeon said it was mild enough to not affect my fertility.

I am continuing with the NHS, doing a second fresh cycle. We have 3 frozen embryos from the first round as backup if this one doesn't work...

Would be good to have some cycle buddies to share support over the next couple of months...

@MrsC18 I'm so sorry to hear that, what a horrible disappointment.
Do you think you may get a blast? Guess it's impossible to know. What did the clinic say about it?
Do you have your partner with you? Hope you can look after yourself today. 💜

Thanks for your well wishes everyone. We had 4 make it to blastocyst but unfortunately the top grade one was 3BC, so that's been transferred as planned, however we don't have any of high enough quality to freeze.
As @MrsC18 it is a complete rollercoaster and I'm now feeling very teary. As there appears to be no rhyme or reason with embryo development I really hope your three become good quality blasts for you @MrsC18 x

@Twiglet2353 thanks, I hope your embryo is the one that works. You'll have a lot of people tell you it only takes one, and it does. It's just hard to hear when IVF is a numbers game.
@AliceAbsolum no I don't think we'll get any to blast. I'm just going to put all hopes on having something to transfer Monday. Given that there's clearly something wrong with my eggs this time it really may not happen. Good luck with the MRI tonight.
@Russkispy just got to wait until the call Monday to tell me whether we're going into the clinic for a transfer.

How can one go from such high numbers of follicles from all the drugs and stims to end up with virtually nothing or not even to blast or 3 day in some cases. This is just bonkers! And not fair! Hate seeing women around going through so much and sometimes not get rewarded in the end, I.e successful implantation and live birth.
@Twiglet2353 hope this one is your success!
@MrsC18 I really hope you get good news on Monday!

Whaaaat! How does that even happen after such good numbers! My. Consultant told us 40% of couples end up with something to freeze, which is lower than I thought.
But, you have one in there, when's your test date?

@AliceAbsolum our clinic's freezing rates are about 25%. My consultant had said my endometriosis might affect my egg quality so don't know if it's got something to do with that? Didn't see them today but one of the specialist nurses. She didn't even check my lining or to see how my ovaries look post EC. Felt generally rushed and with a few questions. I see some clinics wait to see if the blasts will catch up before discarding them but maybe they were just too poor to even consider.
I'm upset that we don't have any in the freezer, as that would've at least cushioned the blow if this is a failed cycle 😞

Good luck for your mri x

It's all so unknown isn't it. Not God enough that you didn't get time to get checked over or ask questions. They're your dna and precious and I'm not surprised you would want to know more.
I'm looking forward to going to Prague, for Donor egg ivf if/when this NHS cycle I have waited 3.5 years for while my ovarian reserve diminishes to almost nothing. Fed up of the NHS atm.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. 2 weeks to test? Xxx

@AliceAbsolum OTD 5th April. Is the price much cheaper in Prague? I've seen a few people mention it. I'd be interested to see the price difference when taking in to account flights and hotels etc. This was our only nhs shot, so will be self funded next time if we proceed

Good luck with your test date @twiglet2353.
I'm so sorry your numbers weren't great @MrsC18 but I have everything crossed that your three remaining are going to stay strong and get to Monday. X

I'm 11dp5dt today and it's BFP! I could see the pregnancy line was appearing first but walked away as wanted to wait for full results. Head is full of everything and trying to take deep breaths!! Going for beta tomorrow.

That's amazing news @Russkispy ( and although I'm definitely not an expert) they look like good lines. Best of luck for the blood tests

Congratulations @Russkispy looks like a string BFP to me.

I’m feeling a bit impatient waiting to start but not long to wait I suppose.

Strong stupid predictive text

@Russkispy Yaaaaaay! Lovely lines!

Yay @Russkispy! What a fab result.

This is the bit I struggle with now. People who cycled at the same time as me start to get their results and I'm nowhere near a transfer 😂

That's a great line! Congratulations! My clinic told me they expect to see positives from 10p5dt so that's fantastic you got that at 11dp5dt. Although they don't encourage people to test early 😉

My MRI scan was horrible! I'm not a panicker but when they put the boards on my chest and strapped them down, along with ear plugs in and my vision being blurry from the buscopan in the scanner... Urgh. I thought this future baby best be worth it!
Going to ring on Monday and hope the consultant can access the images.
Next stage is the implications appointment on Thursday to go through everything, then if the cyst isn't complicated or cancer, we can start next AF... Unless it comes early then we will have to wait another month as DH will be away for work. Waiting waiting waiting.

Wow, congratulations @russkispy!

Hope you get your results Monday @AliceAbsolum, sounds like a really scary experience xx

Congratulations @Russkispy!xx

@Russkispy 🎉🎉🎉

Thank you lovely ladies! Feeling so so tired every evening!

So the call today confirmed that there are still 3 embryos but unfortunately they're all poor quality. I'm going in this afternoon for the transfer of the best 2, one at 7 cells and the next at 4 cells. To be honest, at this point I'm just grateful to have something to transfer

Hi all,

I’m a bit late to join in on this - I just found this thread through some frantic googling. I started my first IVF cycle end-feb. We had male factor infertility with a very low sperm count so we were told ICSI was our only option. All of my tests came back above average re AMH and Antral follicle count, hyseroscopy etc. I am 32, regular periods, regularly ovulation according to IVF test kits.

However it turns out I am responding very poorly to Gonal f. I am on day 12 now of injections and one ovary has only 1 that is a size 12mm and the other ovary has 6 but only 2 >12. They were planning on giving up trigger today but none are big enough. I am just very confused as to why I am responding so badly when they told me I don’t have any problems and it’s a male issue. Now it seems we have both male issue and very poor response so I am very worried.

Does anyone know why you would respond poorly with no female issues or if there is anything we should be talking to our consultant about?

I would really appreciate any advice.

Hi @AnnaSteen my first round was very similar. They expected me to respond very well but I didn't. What dose of Gonal F are you? It's important to remember that the first cycle they can make a best guess at what they think will happen but they don't know your body at all so it's all an experiment. It's also really important to remember that this round doesn't dictate future rounds. I had two VERY different experiences. Do you know how many follicles you had at your base line scan? This can change from month to month too and is just luck!

I’m on 150 dose of Gonal F. I had around 15 at my initial Antral Follicle Count. On my baseline scan I had 8 visible however I am on day 12 now of stims and the biggest is 15. I just am very worried as if the response is this poor at a young age with good AMH FSH etc levels then what will it be like as I get older. Did your consultant increase your dose for the second round? I am just worried my consultant will say that it just happens sometimes rather than trying to address how to improve response. Thank you for the reply.